Hey Jennifer, good to see you back after so long ! Come back, all is forgiven hahaha

I love these preludes ! All have interesting harmonic and rhythmic ideas as well as nice catchy themes, and none outstay their welcome. Did you leave one out or is there one track (09) with two preludes ? I was not sure which was which once I loaded them into iTunes. They also seem to share a certain tonal language, making them attractive as a set.

I especially liked the livelier ones. Am I right in hearing a kinship with Bartok in ethnic mood, and spotting some decidedly Balkanesque harmonies, melodies and rhythms ? Even if so, you have your own distinctive voice. Certainly not influenced by Scriabin, this time, it seems. And well played too, even though it could be a bit more perky and assertive. Did I hear a wind machine towards the end of one of them ?

All in all, great stuff. Can we put them up the site ? But please confirm what's up with nr.3 which you had not attached.

Yes, feel free to post them up. Yeah I don't know what that noise is. Sounds weird though. The church wasn't air conditioned. If there is an extra piece on one of the tracks it is probabl a repeat of one of the preludes. The guy that recorded had not separated the tracks correctly and the Orang and Yellow preludes were lumped on the same track (track 9). I corrected it and it seems to be fine. But if it is still quirky, that's why. There should be only seven pieces.

Yes, I am influenced more by Bartok and Stravinsky more so than Scriabin in terms of Sonority. The Scriabin like piece was my way of paying homage to the composer.

The guy that recorded had not separated the tracks correctly and the Orang and Yellow preludes were lumped on the same track (track 9). I corrected it and it seems to be fine. But if it is still quirky, that's why. There should be only seven pieces.

Ah right... I was sure I had only six yesterday Ok, I will put them up one of these days. Is it ok if we publish the scores as well, or you prefer to provide a link to them ?

Jennifer wrote:

Thanks for listening!

It was my pleasure. They are nice, had you not supplied these superb recordings I would have been more than happy to study and record them.

I would say you could publish the scores but the the rights have been signed over to Imagine Music. Techonically speaking, the sheet music is their copy now and no longer public domain. So I don't want to tinker with that.

You can upload my picture and whatever other info you think seems suitable from Imagine Music. You can even take my bio from their since the one posted is out of date and too long. Whatever floats your boat. Whatever you decide to do should be fine.

_________________Jennifer M. Castellano

"Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." --Henry Van Dyke

I would say you could publish the scores but the the rights have been signed over to Imagine Music. Techonically speaking, the sheet music is their copy now and no longer public domain. So I don't want to tinker with that.

Definitely not. But I will include a link to that page where people can order it.

Jennifer wrote:

You can upload my picture and whatever other info you think seems suitable from Imagine Music. You can even take my bio from their since the one posted is out of date and too long. Whatever floats your boat. Whatever you decide to do should be fine.

Ok, I'll do that over the weekend. Thanks for submitting this interesting and very accessible suite !

Why on earth would we laugh?! Profound they are and your compositions have a uniqe style. My favourite is the blue (no.5) and it reminds me of swedish folk songs, farmers working on the fields. All of them are quality compositions and you should be proud of them. Welcome back by the way (thank God that Chris forgave you!).

If I could make a suggestion, I would recommend to not have too many of these little chromatics that exist in all these preludes. While they add a nice chromatic shimmer, I think they only do so it you use them thrifty. I would replace some of them with just the "blue" tone (as they say in jazz). I would guess that these are your escape solution .

These are cool! I particularly liked Red, Green, Indigo and Violet. These sound like they would be excellent intermediate level teaching pieces. I"ll play them for some of my students and see if they're interested. Keep up the composing, you have something unique to say (unlike many contemporary composers).

Very interesting!
NOw I try to explain a first impression for every piece...
The first have this use of fourths very 'spatial'... Do you ever heard Voivod (maybe this could sounds too heretic...)?
The second recalls to me some Ravel, the third appears to me the 'definitive' chord estrinsecation of your scale, near the fourth, the fifth recalls me the relaxed section of 'allegro barbaro'... barbarian happy...
with the sixth we return in the joyful relaxed harmonies derived from the scale...
I like much the "free and happy" melody of the seventh
The relations between colors and notes awakenes my interest most years ago.
The scale you use is very close to that I use usually in my improvvisations, called from me 'pseudoharmonic' modes, (that are in fact two modes of the Bach scale, one beginning from the 4th, one from the 5th grade).
Well, good work!

The scale you use is very close to that I use usually in my improvvisations, called from me 'pseudoharmonic' modes, (that are in fact two modes of the Bach scale, one beginning from the 4th, one from the 5th grade)

I guess you refer to the archaich church modes which Bach also used sometimes ? In this case that would be Lydian and Mixolydian mode (starting on f resp. g). But if there's really such a thing as a 'Bach scale' I would like to know more.

I use this starting from (in the example) the D, for 'free and easy' mood, or (is this the case of similarity) from the E, for a 'tender' mood.
Surely it's been classified centuries ago, I don't know.
The reason for the Castellano's scale reminds me this, is probably the major mode with the minor sixth...

Who is online

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum